Marsh earwort (Jamesoniella undulifolia)

Marsh earwort
Marsh earwort

Marsh earwort fact file

Marsh earwort description

KingdomPlantae
PhylumMarchantiophyta
ClassJungermanniopsida
OrderJungermanniales
FamilyJamesoniellaceae
GenusJamesoniella (1)

This species is one of the world's rarest bryophytes. Liverworts vary in appearance, from those with filmy, ribbon-like bodies, to those having leafy structures. Marsh earwort belongs to the latter group, having rounded leaves, and is usually found growing with sphagnum moss. It closely resembles another liverwort, Odontoschisma sphagni.

Top

Marsh earwort biology

Liverworts are part of the lower order of the plant kingdom, and are thought to be amongst some of the most ancient of plants surviving on the planet. Bryophytes, as a group, are believed to date back to at least the period called the Devonian, 350-400 million years ago, and possibly even further back to the Silurian. Liverworts, like mosses, do not have conventional roots. They are closely allied to mosses and, indeed, some species resemble mosses and were classified as such until more was known about liverworts in general.

Marsh earwort appears to grow over and amongst Sphagnum mosses in its mire habitat, and seems to prefer level ground. Because of its close resemblance to Odontoschisma, it may have been under-recorded in the past, but a survey in 1996 showed it was present on 96 Sphagnum hummocks at its Argyll site.

Top

Marsh earwort range

This liverwort is now restricted to just three widely separated sites, one in Cornwall, one in Argyll in Scotland, and the third in Craven Arms in Shropshire. However, it was formerly found at other sites in Gloucestershire and Westmorland. Elsewhere, it is known from east Asia, North America and Greenland, although it is considered rare right across its range.

You can view distribution information for this species at the National Biodiversity Network Gateway.

Top

Marsh earwort habitat

Most specimens have been found in valley mires and mineral-enriched raised bogs.

Top

Marsh earwort status

Classified as Endangered in the UK and protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981 as amended. Globally classified as Vulnerable (VU A1ac) by the IUCN Red List.

IUCN Red List species status – Vulnerable

Top

Marsh earwort threats

Marsh earwort's main threat is the pollution and enrichment of upland mires and bogs through agricultural run-off, and from the flooding or draining of upland land for reservoir construction. The last three decades have also seen the loss of much of its upland mire habitat due to commercial afforestation.

Top

Marsh earwort conservation

Marsh earwort is listed as a priority species in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UK BAP), and is included in English Nature's Species Recovery Programme. While its Cornish site is protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), the Argyll site has not, to this date, enjoyed the same legal protection. It is regularly monitored, however, and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), who are lead partners for the species within the UK BAP, aim to designate the site as an SSSI or acquire it to be managed as a National Nature Reserve within the next few years.

English Nature, which is monitoring the liverwort at its Cornish site, hopes to investigate the possibilities of re-introducing the plant back to some of its former sites, if they are in a suitable condition. It is also planned to raise the profile of this globally rare species of liverwort elsewhere across its range, in the hope that additional knowledge of the species’ ecology will help with its conservation in the UK.

There may be further information about this species available via the National Biodiversity Network Gateway.

The UK Biodiversity Action Plan for this species is available at UK BAP.

Top

Authentication

This information is awaiting authentication by a species expert, and will be updated as soon as possible. If you are able to help please contact:
arkive@wildscreen.org.uk

Top

References

  1. IUCN Red List (April, 2012)
    http://www.iucnredlist.org/

More »Related species

Atlantic lejeunea (Lejeunea mandonii)Petalwort (Petalophyllum ralfsii)Liverwort (Cephaloziella massalongi)Stabler's rustwort (Marsupella stableri)Greater copperwort (Cephaloziella nicholsonii)Bryopteris (Bryopteris gaudichaudii)

This species is featured in:

This species is affected by global climate
change. To learn about climate change
and the species that are affected,
visit our climate change pages.

Please donate to ARKive today

Help us share the wonders of the natural world. Donate today!

Sign up to our newsletter

Get the latest wild news direct to your inbox.

Get involved

ARKive relies on its media donors to donate photos and videos. Can you help? There are plenty of other ways you can get involved too!

X
Close

Image credit

Marsh earwort  
Marsh earwort

© Dan Wrench

Dan Wrench
Tel: +44 (0) 771 8391794
dan_wrench@yahoo.com

X
Close

Link to this photo

ARKive species - Marsh earwort (Jamesoniella undulifolia) Embed this ARKive thumbnail link by copying and pasting the code below.

Terms of Use - The displayed thumbnail may be used as a link from your website to ARKive's online content for private, scientific, conservation or educational purposes only. It may NOT be used within Apps.

Read more about

X
Close

MyARKive

MyARKive offers the scrapbook feature to signed-up members, allowing you to organize your favourite ARKive images and videos and share them with friends.

X
Close

Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials

Copyright in this website and materials contained on this website (Material) belongs to Wildscreen or its licensors.

Visitors to this website (End Users) are entitled to:

  • view the contents of, and Material on, the website;
  • download and retain copies of the Material on their personal systems in digital form in low resolution for their own personal use;
  • teachers, lecturers and students may incorporate the Material in their educational material (including, but not limited to, their lesson plans, presentations, worksheets and projects) in hard copy and digital format for use within a registered educational establishment, provided that the integrity of the Material is maintained and that copyright ownership and authorship is appropriately acknowledged by the End User.

End Users shall not copy or otherwise extract, alter or manipulate Material other than as permitted in these Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials.

Additional use of flagged material

Green flagged material 

Certain Material on this website (Licence 4 Material) displays a green flag next to the Material and is available for not-for-profit conservation or educational use. This material may be used by End Users, who are individuals or organisations that are in our opinion not-for-profit, for their not-for-profit conservation or not-for-profit educational purposes. Low resolution, watermarked images may be copied from this website by such End Users for such purposes. If you require high resolution or non-watermarked versions of the Material, please contact Wildscreen with details of your proposed use.

Creative commons material

Certain Material on this website has been licensed to Wildscreen under a Creative Commons Licence. These images are clearly marked with the Creative Commons buttons and may be used by End Users only in the way allowed by the specific Creative Commons Licence under which they have been submitted. Please see http://creativecommons.org for details.

Any other use

Please contact the copyright owners directly (copyright and contact details are shown for each media item) to negotiate terms and conditions for any use of Material other than those expressly permitted above. Please note that many of the contributors to ARKive are commercial operators and may request a fee for such use.

Save as permitted above, no person or organisation is permitted to incorporate any copyright material from this website into any other work or publication in any format (this includes but is not limited to: websites, Apps, CDs, DVDs, intranets, extranets, signage, digital communications or on printed materials for external or other distribution). Use of the Material for promotional, administrative or for-profit purposes is not permitted.